NYC buildings department finalizes rules before 2024 climate law goes into effect

The city Buildings Department on Monday released the finalized rules for the implementation of Local Law 97, considered the city’s most impactful climate law — though some activists argued it created loopholes for landlords.

The law, passed in 2019, aims to reduce the use of natural gas and other fossil fuels in the city’s biggest carbon polluters — buildings over 25,000 square feet — starting in 2024, before stricter limits go into effect by 2030.

Under the rule package, buildings must undergo energy efficiency retrofits and take measures to reduce carbon emissions produced by their operations — or pay penalties if they don’t. Building owners will be required to submit yearly reports on their buildings emissions, with the first one due May 1, 2025. The law is set to affect around 50,000 buildings.

“Our administration is working tirelessly to reduce harmful carbon greenhouse gas emissions from every sector, including buildings — our city’s largest source of emissions,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement. “Our ‘Getting 97 Done’ plan and these rules will help buildings go green and save green, and it’s all a part of our overall strategy to build a more sustainable, resilient city so New Yorkers are safer from the effects of climate change in the future.”

The regulations, which go into effect Jan. 1, 2024, haven’t changed much since the proposed rules were released in September alongside Mayor Eric Adams’ “Getting 97 Done” initiative. They give building owners an extra year and half to comply if they create plans that show a “good-faith effort” toward decarbonization.

There is also no limit on “renewable energy credits,” which some advocates said is a way of buying out of compliance, since they allow landlords to avoid fines by investing in renewable energy.

In written statements supporting the law, environmental groups like Urban Green Council and the New York League of Conservation Voters said the new rules were…